Paint CS5 Images with the Quick Selection Tool

The Adobe Photoshop Creative Suites 5 Quick Selection tool lets you quickly paint a selection with a round brush tip of adjustable size. Click and drag and then watch as the selection expands outward and automatically follows defined edges in the image. A Refine Edge command lets you improve the quality of the selection edges and visualize the selection in different ways for easy editing.

Follow these steps to find out how you can take advantage of this new tool:

Open a file that requires a selection.

You can find sample images in Windows at C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS5\Extras\Samples and on the Mac at Applications\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS5\Samples.

Select the Quick Selection tool.

Position the cursor over the area you want to select. Notice the brush size displayed with the cursor; click and drag to start painting the selection.

You can adjust the size of the painting selection by pressing the left bracket key ([) to make the brush size smaller or the right bracket key (]) to make the brush size larger.

By using the Add to Selection or Subtract from Selection buttons on the Options bar, you can paint more of the selection or deselect active areas.